Press Releases and Statements

​Start School Later, a non-profit dedicated to school hours that allow for healthy sleep, recently launched its 100th chapter and its first in the state of Alaska. The group expects to launch several additional chapters throughout the United States before the end of 2017. The 100th chapter, Start School Later Fairbanks AK, is led by Dr. Clay Triplehorn, a physician specializing in sleep and family medicine.

Society of Behavioral Medicine: Start School Later for Health and Learning November 15, 2017​Start School Later is pleased to join the National Education Association, National Parent Teacher Association, Parents for Public Schools, and the Sleep Research Society in endorsing a new position statement released by the Society of Behavioral Medicine. The statement recommends that U.S. middle and high schools start classes at 8:30 a.m. or later to benefit student health and learning. With this statement, the Society of Behavioral Medicine (SBM) joins a long list of notable health groups making similar recommendations, including the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Medical Association, the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, the National Association of School Nurses, and the Society of Pediatric Nurses.

These recommendations are based on well-documented biologic changes during puberty that shift sleep cycles later. Even teenagers with reasonable bedtimes cannot get sufficient sleep if they wake for school at dawn. Disrupting the natural sleep cycle impairs mental and physical health, safety, and learning. To address these concerns, SBM is calling for action at local, state, and federal levels to ensure that middle and high schools require attendance no earlier than 8:30 a.m. and to increase general awareness of sleep.

The Nobel Assembly recently announced that the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine will be awarded to three scientists whose research has helped in understanding the molecular and genetic clocks that control our day-night schedule, with significant implications on school-day scheduling.​“This explains why trying to force high school students to wake too early damages their health,” states Dr. Paul Kelley, Honorary Associate in Sleep, Circadian, and Memory Neuroscience at The Open University and a member of the Advisory Board for the national non-profit Start School Later.

​A newly released report by the RAND Corporation suggests an urgent need for states to take action to ensure healthy school start times, according to the nonprofit Start School Later.

The report, “Later school start times in the U.S.” explores the economic implications of school start time shifts to 8:30 a.m. In recent years the American Academy of Pediatrics and other health groups have recommended middle and high school start times after 8:30 a.m. due to changes in sleep that occur during puberty. These changes mean that waking early for their school commute deprives most teenagers of the sleep their growing brains and bodies need, and as a result it sets them up for car crashes, depression, substance abuse, and many academic and chronic health issues.

Using a “novel macroeconomic modelling approach” the report concluded that the benefits of later school start times outweigh any costs of changing bell times, with an estimated economic gain of $8.6 billion to the national economy within just two years of changes, and a gain of $83 billion within ten years.

Schools in at least nineteen states to delay bell times this yearAugust 10, 2017

Schools in at least nineteen states are planning to ring the first bell later this fall according to the national non-profit organization Start School Later.

“Every year we see more and more schools delaying bell times to improve student sleep, health, and learning," says Start School Later's Executive Director Terra Ziporyn Snider, PhD. "Not all of them will be starting middle and high schools at 8:30 or later, as health professionals recommend, but they are moving to schedules that are healthier and safer for many more students."

Snider expects progress to continue now that the National PTA has joined medical organizations such as the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Medical Association, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Association of School Nurses, and the Society of Pediatric Nurses in calling for school hours that allow students to obtain healthier sleep.

​Schools reportedly planning to start later in the morning for the 2017/2018 school year include, by state:

Start School Later commends the National PTA's new Resolution on Healthy Sleep for Adolescents, formally adopted at the PTA's national conference at the end of June. The resolution, a clear sign that the issue of healthy school start times continues to gain momentum, recognizes the research linking deficient sleep with threats to teen “health, safety, and well-being” and identifies early school start times as a “key but modifiable contributor to insufficient sleep.”

The PTA joins a long list of organizations that have already endorsed later middle and high school start times, including the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Medical Association, the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, the American Thoracic Society, the National Association of School Nurses, and the Society of Pediatric Nurses. The National PTA’s added voice is significant given the unique blend of parent, teacher, and other stakeholder perspectives its membership provides to this issue.

Asleep at the Wheel: A National Compendium of Efforts to Eliminate Drowsy Driving was released today by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration at the 2017 Managing Fatigue Conference in San Diego. The statistics on teen drowsy driving shed light on why the non-profit Start School Later was one of the organizations that contributed to this new report.

As outlined in the report, U.S. drivers ages 16 to 24 years old who were involved in a crash were nearly twice as likely to be drowsy at the time of the crash compared to drivers ages 40 to 59. Of all age groups, teens and young adults were most likely to have reported falling asleep at the wheel in the past year.

On April 27 and 28 school administrators and other stakeholders in student health and success will have the opportunity to gather in Washington, DC and learn how to implement later school day start times. This unique conference is a collaboration of the Yale School of Medicine’s Department of Pediatrics, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the RAND Corporation, and the non-profit Start School Later.

Health organizations are collaborating to offer free webinars October 4th and 25th on the hot topic of the year, adolescent sleep, to professionals and the public in the Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin region. Adolescents are the most sleep-deprived age group in the nation, with significant implications on their health, mental health, safety, and learning.

Start School Later Anne Arundel County, Maryland, is pleased that the Anne Arundel County Public Schools Board of Education recognizes the importance of safe, healthy and developmentally-appropriate school hours and has affirmatively voted to delay morning bell times for its high schools by 13 minutes and all other schools by 15 minutes.

This change, which will take effect beginning in August 2017, comes after two decades of on-and-off discussion about the district'sÂ 7:17 a.m.Â high school start time, which is the earliest in the state.

Schools in at least sixteen states are planning to ring the first bell later this fall, according to the national non-profit organization Start School Later.“More and more schools are delaying bell times specifically to improve student sleep, health, and learning," states Start School Later's Executive Director Dr. Terra Ziporyn Snider. "While some of these schools will still be starting classes too early, or moving high schools later by moving other kids earlier, the fact that they are making changes to help teens get healthier sleep is impressive and a clear sign of progress."

The AMA cites the compelling evidence showing that early school hours play a major role in widespread teen sleep deprivation, which, in turn, has been linked to obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease. A multi-site study issued by the University of Minnesota found a decrease in teen car crashes after schools adopted later starting times, and other studies have shown links between chronic insufficient sleep and depression, substance use, sports injuries, and suicide.

﻿​The Anne Arundel County Council and County Executive Schuh again demonstrated their commitment to the health and safety of Anne Arundel students by voting to appropriate $602,000 to shift school start times in August 2017. While Anne Arundel County Public Schools (AACPS) says this appropriation allows only for a minimal shift of 13 minutes, Start School Later Anne Arundel County (SSL AACo) continues to encourage AACPS to use its transportation software to develop schedules that meet the American Academy of Pediatrics and (new this week) American Academy of Medicine recommendations to start middle and high schools no earlier than 8:30, allowing adolescents to get the sleep their growing bodies require.

Annapolis, MD - The Orange Ribbon Bill for Healthy School Hours, the first legislation in the nation to recognize school systems for healthy and safe school hours, was signed into law today in Maryland. The bipartisan legislation, sponsored by Delegate Aruna Miller (D-Montgomery County)—with a companion bill cross-filed by Senator Bryan Simonaire (R-Anne Arundel County)—becomes effective July 1st of this year.

​Annapolis - The Orange Ribbon Bill for Healthy School Hours, the first legislation in the nation to recognize school systems for healthy and safe school hours was signed into law today in Maryland. The bipartisan legislation, sponsored as HB39 by Delegate Aruna Miller (D-Montgomery County)—with a companion bill cross-filed by Senator Bryan Simonaire (R-Anne Arundel County)—becomes effective July 1st of this year.

​In an historic collaboration, separate school boards in Southern Maine voted simultaneously to adopt later school day start times. Next school year, Biddeford, Dayton, and Saco, along with Thornton Academy, will be the first districts in the state to require compliance with CDC recommendations that middle and high school start no earlier than 8:30 a.m.

By voting this week to add $1.4 million to the existing $600,000 appropriated to change bell times, the Anne Arundel County Board of Education has demonstrated its commitment to the health and safety of all children in Anne Arundel County. If approved by the County, this FY2017 budget will allow the school community to change school hours in the 2017-18 school year

The American Sleep Assocation (ASA) has released a position statement calling for healthier school start times and accounding a new partnership with the national non-profit Start School Later.

Citing research on the changes in sleep patterns during puberty, the ASA, a coalition of sleep physicians and scientists, stated: "The American Sleep Association position on school start times in that middle school and high school should not start before 08:00. A time closer to 0:9:00 or later would be preferable."

​A new Ohio chapter of the national non-profit Start School Later, Inc has been launched in Hilliard.

"It's time for a change in Hilliard. For the sake of our children’s health and safety, we need to get in line with the CDC and AAP's recommendations of starting school later for 6th, 7th, & 8thgraders. Surrounding districts start those grades much later,” says Chapter Leader Leslie Drexel.

While Start School Later Anne Arundel County (SSLAACo) is pleased that Anne Arundel County Public School's proposed bell schedule provides safe, healthy and academically appropriate school start times for high school students, we are concerned about significant schedule changes proposed for many elementary and middle school students and themanner in which they are being proposed.

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